A graphic design layout checklist you can use before export

1. Give the design one main job

Write a one-sentence brief: this design helps this audience understand this message and take this action. A poster announcing a reading event has a different job from a book cover, even if both involve books.

Read your design aloud in the order you expect someone to see it. If the date arrives before the event name, ask whether that order helps. A reader should not need a treasure map to find the invitation.

Fictional brief: Open Book Saturday
Audience: teenagers and parents
Message: bring a book to a neighbourhood reading session
Next step: ask the library team for details
Date and venue: unknown — keep these as labelled placeholders.

2. Choose a reading order

Give the most important information an obvious lead. Use size, weight, position and space to separate a headline from supporting details. Making every line bold removes the distinction you were trying to create.

Try a quick test: show the layout briefly, hide it and ask what the reader remembers. This is a useful small review, not scientific proof of how every audience will respond. If the wrong message wins, change one decision and test again.

3. Group what belongs together

Keep practical details in a coherent group. In the fictional poster, audience, date and venue can share an area while the enquiry instruction has a clear place of its own.

Use a small set of consistent spacing decisions. Related items can sit closer together; separate topics need enough room to feel separate. Start with a simple alignment and give yourself a reason before breaking it.

• Line up items that should feel connected.
• Keep body text within a comfortable reading width.
• Use spacing to separate ideas rather than putting a border around everything.
• Check the actual canvas edges; a large preview can hide cramped phone layouts.

4. Test readability at the intended size

View the design at the size someone will encounter it. Small supporting text may look fine when you are zoomed in and disappear when the post reaches a phone.

For web content, WCAG’s minimum text-contrast criterion generally calls for 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for qualifying large text, with defined exceptions. Check the actual foreground and background colours. These numbers alone do not establish that an entire design or website is accessible.

Do not rely on colour alone to explain a selection or warning. Add an understandable label or other cue. A poster with an unreadable date is still an unreadable poster, however fashionable its palette.

5. Check the content before the file settings

Read names, numbers and instructions separately from the visual review. Compare them with the source brief. Keep unknown event information labelled rather than making it look confirmed.

Check whether you own or are allowed to use each photograph, illustration, font and other asset. Retain relevant licence information. A search result is a place to find an image, not permission to publish it.

6. Export for a destination, then inspect the result

For a screen graphic, confirm the intended dimensions and file requirements. For print, ask the printer for its specifications, including any required bleed and colour setup. There is no single preset that fits every destination.

Open the exported file and inspect it again. Use a useful filename, retain the editable source and write a short note about the main decision you made. That note is the beginning of a portfolio explanation.

• Can a new reader identify the main message?
• Are related details easy to find?
• Is text readable at the intended size?
• Are facts checked and unknowns labelled?
• Are asset permissions and delivery requirements clear?